IRELAND 2010 - Centenary of the birth of Máirtín Ó Direáin

Born in Sruthán, on Inis Mór in the Aran Islands in 1910, Máirtín Ó Direáin was the son of a farmer. Due to his upbringing in a small Irishspeakingcommunity, he spoke only his native tongue until his mid-teens, when
he left the island to work in a Post Office in Galway. While in Galway, he became heavily involved in Irish-language theatre through the Gaelic League. Around this time he also began to write poetry and used his own money to successfully publish two collections, Coinnle Geala (1942) and Dánta Aniar (1943). During the next fifteen years, poems like Ó Morna agus Dánta Eile (1957) would firmly establish him as a truly gifted poet. Attractively simple in theme and language, his work has been praised for its capacity for acute observation and use of a simple vocabulary. His early years on Inis Mór heavily influenced his work with nostalgic recollections of the uncompromising landscape of the island. His poetry often depicted the desolation and cultural impoverishment of everyday life in Ireland and he would regularly talk of the
erosion of values by modern urban society.

He received many literary accolades during his life including the Irish-American Cultural Institute Award, the Ossian Prize for poetry from the Freiherr Von Stein Foundation, and an honorary degree from NUI. After retiring from the Civil Service in 1975, he died in his home in Dublin in 1988. This stamp was issued to commemorate the centenary of his birth and was designed by Dr. Thomas Ryan, RHA. It features an original painting of Máirtín Ó Direáin set against the backdrop of his beloved Aran Islands.